COUNTRY ON THE MOVE
FEBRUARY 5. 2018
If you did, and even if you didn’t, watch the
‘Grammy’s Show’ this year, there was something for everybody, especially
shame. Bruno Mars (his real name is Peter Hernandez) who does a lot of
funk/reggae/hiphop music took home six Grammy’s this year. Really?
Well, not to get excited, he took home seven Grammy’s last year. Does
this seem really ‘right’ when there are so many incredibly gifted
creative writers and musicians in the United States of America these
days? Mars recorded for Motown but was dropped because of poor sales,
he joined Atlantic Records in 2009, had a hit recording “Just The Way
You Are” (which quite frankly, I liked even though my specialty for the
Smithsonian Institution is America’s ‘heritage’ music). What’s so
astonishing about this is there are many many other artists worthy of
being considered. Or maybe because one artist can take so many awards
in one year, errrrr make that two years running, some creative artists
probably do not even submit their work for consideration.
In 2014, Mars partnered with the Grammy Foundation and
the Hawaii Community Foundation to establish a “Grammy Camp Scholarship
Fund.” I think that’s interesting, especially since this
happened ‘before’ he won 13 Grammy’s in two years.
According to ‘Deadline Hollywood” regarding the
incredibly huge ‘drop’ in viewership on the CBS aired Grammy Awards
program…. “Among the key demographic of adults aged 18-49, Bruno Mars
topping Grammys snagged a 5.9 (viewership percentage), coming
off metered market ratings earlier that projected an all-time ratings
low. The demo result has fallen 24% (according to the Wall Street
Journal) from the 59th Grammys to hit the rock bottom result you see
here for the 60th Grammys. With a 12.7/21 in metered market ratings,
the Recording Academy’s big hootenanny was also way down from early
numbers from the Los Angeles based February 13, 2017 59th annual show.
By ‘way down’ I mean over a 24% decline from last year to what looks to
be an all-time low for the ceremony.” That’s something like 10-million
less viewers than last year. Starting to sound like Tom Cruise yelling
‘show me the money’ from the “Jerry Maguire” movie that came out twenty
years ago.
Other commentaries suggested the drop was fueled by a
lackluster field of nominees. Mars six wins appeared to not sit well
with viewers on social media either. Past Grammy winner Justin Vernon
wrote “I’d say move on from this s**t show. The response in California
was noticeable too. Two ‘Letters to the Editor” in the San Diego
Tribune, a liberal paper in California, are noticeable, and reprinted
here for information purposes. Arnold Botts from Chula Vista make his
opinion well known….”I read with very little surprise that there was a
significant drop in the number of people watching the Grammys. I
believe that most people watch the Grammy, Oscars, and other such shows
to be entertained. We do get that, but we also get a big dose of other
people’s political opinions. If we wanted that, we would watch the
appropriate channels. We watch these people or groups because of their
talent at singing, dancing, or acting. If they want to pontificate, let
them appear in the proper venue, or better still, show us they can
express their opinion by writing an op-ed piece. Keep the entertainment
entertaining. M.J. Bennell from San Diego also offered his opinion in
the same issue. “The arts world needs to cut the embarrassing
classless awards show social rants and theatrical curtain call political
spews from the script. I wish artists had the smarts and conviction to
believe that just their art alone has real value to society The arts
community should realize giving audiences a break from the grind of
everyday life is admirable and important. It would better serve its
customers to stop with the ill-informed, one-sided commentary and just
give its patrons an escape from the challenges of the day to day.” Well
done to both Mr. Botts and Mr. Bennell.
From the newspaper “Declaration” “Trump’s first Sate
of the Union address was another victory for his administration, while
the high ratings he received have many news correspondents perplexed
that non-republicans would take the time to watch him. Ratings reports
show that the State of the Union viewership was ‘double’ that of the
Grammys” Does that say anything to executive producers of
‘entertainment’ shows. Obviously the American public is tired of
‘politics’ on everything we watch. We want to be entertained, and we
want to be entertained by ‘many’ genres of music for instance, not JUST
show me the money enterprises.
Maybe Grammy’s should re-look at their ‘categories’
for instance, and ‘yes’ there are a lot of ‘new’ music kinds of music in
America these days. But what about music from the past? Does
television executives actually think that anyone over the age of 50 no
longer watch TV anymore? How stupid is that, those numbers are in the
high millions, and yes they do watch television, at least those programs
they can be entertained by. I heard a comment on one of my
meanderings, that ‘news’ companies have conceded everything to
‘Facebook.’ Maybe they have, but there is an incredible opportunity for
any national television company to bring those over-50 viewers back to
the tube. All they have to do is find someone with enough knowledge of
the entertainment world, to entertain.
Bob Everhart for Country Music News International